December...ing

 Our December celebrations revolved mostly in the making and consuming of food, that and enjoying our first Christmas in our new house.

Collecting - holly from a very heavily berried tree in the long field.

Singing - carols outdoors at the Christmas eve Carol Service conducted in the graveyard. 

Loving - our family tradition of having a cheese fondue on Christmas Eve. The children get so excited about it!

Lavishing - ourselves with a chocolate and raspberry roulade made by the big girl.

Laying - the table for Christmas Dinner. I love getting out my grandmas cutlery set especially for the occasion.

Enjoying - the longevity of these red carnations. In fact, the first lot of holly faded and this is the second batch but the flowers have soldiered on for 10 days.

Indulging - in hot chocolate spoons for stirring into hot milk. Meg loved making these inspired by Mamas Mercantile blog.

Gifting - a Christmas cake to my in laws in lieu of normal Christmas shopping. I made the cake in November and the girls loved decorating it for them.

Giving - the house a good tidy up after the deluge of paper and gifts.

Making - tiny snowman. Just when I thought, "What on earth are we going to do with these next few empty days?" - it snowed.

Feeling - blessed with the sunset to the end a wonderful Christmas in our new home.

I know Christmas has not been ideal for some families but for us, we are all safe, healthy and together.

Here's hoping you found some joy somewhere too.

Jo xxxxx

Rainbow Socks

 In the period between lockdowns we did our shopping quite locally all masked up but keen to get out and support local people. Little one wanted some hand knitted socks because since we have started living on a small holding she has lived in wellies. She chose this yarn from Yarn in the Hills in Church Stretton.

Sometimes a variegated yarn is disappointing when it is knit up but not this one - it is a real corker.

I was in no hurry to knit them, just half an hour here and there.

The pattern is from A Colourful life blog. I like Christina's no nonsense sock pattern and for this one I cast on 60 sts instead of 64 and adjusted everything accordingly. The sizing worked out perfectly for a Child's UK size 2 shoe.

I'm off to look for some DK yarn in my basket to make myself some more welly socks.

Stay Safe. Jo xxxx

All Done Scheepjes Knitting #32

Another All Done post today but intentionally so. My All Done posts normally show how I have used up a craft resource to its very end over a long period of time however...

During November when I thought that not one interesting shop would be open before Christmas I put my big girl pants on and decided to make absolutely everything for Christmas. It lasted about three weeks and then the shops by us reopened. Thankfully, I gave my red hot knitting needles a break. I bought two 100g balls of Scheepjes yarn in a manly colourway to knock out some comforting gifts. 

The first pattern I tried was free on ravelry. A neck snood for my brother. He has copious amounts of thick long hair so he never wears a hat - in fact we have the same hairstyle! The pattern makes a super stretchy snood in a fisherman's rib pattern.

The yarn is made up of 40% polyamide, 40% Acrylic and 20% wool meaning that it was beautifully soft without being itchy. The snood used up one ball which was a decent depth. 

Next up I found a pattern in my Ravelry library saving it from a facebook link when it was released in September. I thought it looked perfect for another gentlemanly gift item. 

It is the On A Whim Cowl by Fated Knitter

I did stop a little shorter than the pattern suggested because I wanted the last bit of yarn for a boys hat but it was a generous original size leaving me with ample depth for a teenage boy snood. I really recommend this pattern if you like stranded work.

Lastly to eek out the last of the yarn I paired it with some plain grey acrylic and just kept knitting stripes until the yarn ran out. This hat is for a 2/3 year old and was a good size.

All Done - 200g, £8, three gifts - Nailed it!

Are you still making? Thanks for stopping by. Jo xxxx

December...ing

Bottling - up my sloe Gin from earlier on in the season ready to give.

Repeating - the process with Andy's damson wine which has cleared nicely.

Crocheting - some Christmas bauble decorations to gift.

Pattern link for this one is here.

Feeding - my Christmas cake to give as a family gift. I even found a box and cake board in Home Bargains to make it easy to transport. Time to decorate soon.

Making - a serious amount of making has been happening here in lieu of Christmas shopping in shops. I have knit up lots of scraps into hats for children, family and friends.

Knitting - a new pattern I treated myself to. A joy to knit, wear and gift.

Trying - another new pattern which was free on ravelry. A neck snood for my brother. He has copius amounts of thick long hair so he never wears a hat - in fact we have the same hairstyle! I thought this was perfectly manly.

Whizzing - up some hand made gift tags from Christmas fabric and ribbon off cuts.

Making - a churchyard wreath from our hedgerow holly. So many berries this year.

Supplying - Andy with hot drinks and food transported in a basket to his hedge laying location, he is getting closer and closer towards the house each weekend.

Baking - mince pies. In our family two people love them (Heidi and I) and two people loathe them (Andy and Megan)

Decorating - our new house because we were just too excited to see what the tree would look like in our new front room. I also bought a fireplace swag last year in the sales with the new inglenook in mind.

Trying - on my Christmas day dress which is the Sorrel dress by Jennifer Lauren in this luxurious viscose crepe by Atelier Brunette. It has a subtle festive shine and room to eat a huge dinner!

Mending - my jeans again. On a more frugal note I have continued to add to the thin patches and over sew where I have put previous ones.

Leaving - you with a kitchen-window winter pastel, moody sunset today.

Any seasonal plans for you?

Thanks for calling in. Jo xx 

All Done Beautiful Crepe #31

 It is time for an All Done post sharing how I have used up a piece of fabric to the very end. It is something I take great pleasure out of. This obsession means I can play around with tried and tested patterns without looking like all of my clothes are the same while reducing the amount of waste fabric I generate.

It also means favourite fabrics can be used for both Summer and Winter which was what today was all about.

During lockdown I received a bag of fabric scraps from my friend Michelle who had undertaken a clear out and this piece of fabric stood out as my favourite piece in the whole lot. 

I made a sun top from it and saved one last piece from the bin with this Linden top in mind.

There was just enough to cut the front piece and make the rest of out of stretch jersey. Now I can wear this wonderful fabric all year round. I must say the Linden Sweatshirt top is one of my most used patterns especially now that my older daughter can use size 8 from the pattern while I use size 12.

The back, sleeves, cuffs and neckbands are all in navy which compliments the patterned crepe really well.

I am super pleased with my new top. Do you have a lovely piece of fabric or skein of wool you are saving for a special project?

All done beautiful crepe. Jo xx